


Walking (#427 Missing)

by ladygray99



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Case Fic, Community: numb3rs100, Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-09
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-18 06:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/876905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygray99/pseuds/ladygray99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A child goes missing in the woods. Charlie takes a walk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walking (#427 Missing)

The damp chill of a gray morning slipped into Billy's bones as he looked over the carefully marked USGS map. He was supposed to be on vacation but when a little girl wandered off in the hills overlooking L.A. the previous evening everyone scrambled.

The radio crackled on his shoulder. "All teams return to base. We've got her."

Billy radioed in his acknowledgment. He wondered who found her. The FBI team had arrived with a mathematically optimized search grid. 

It took an hour to hike back and he ran into Eppes first. "So who found her?" The ambulance was still parked and the girl's family was clustered around so she couldn't be in terrible shape for a night in the wilderness.

"Charlie. He went up to their campsite as soon as the sun started coming up then he just started walking. Showed up back here holding her hand, chatting away." 

Billy tracked down Charlie once the chaos cleared. "So what kind of math did you use?"

"Didn't." Charlie sipped a bottle of water.

"Then how?"

"Walking is my sport. I understand people who walk. She wasn't lost, not really, just taking a walk." 

"In the woods, in the middle of the night?"

Charlie yawned and rubbed at his eyes. "How does that saying go? Not all those who wander are lost?"

"She could have picked a better time, scared her family a little less."

"Some thoughts require solitude and can't be ignored. I did mention she worried some people." Charlie yawned again. "And I told her next time she left a note it should be in some form people could easily read."

"She left a note?" That was the first Coop had heard of one.

A secretive smile touched Charlie's lips. "Like I said, I understand people who like to walk."


End file.
